Making A Date With Controversy

April 30, 2009|-Ashley Powers, Tribune Newspapers

LAS VEGAS - — A male model wearing a kilt of black vinyl strips, a red belt with gold buckle and little else is flexing his muscles amid fake oil derricks and Roman columns in a photo studio. All chiseled pectorals and tanned thighs, he is playing Captain Moroni, a battlefield hero in the Book of Mormon who rallied troops with the Title of Liberty banner.

Chad Hardy, who is running the photo shoot, adjusts the model's kilt.

"Flex your abs," Hardy reminds him.

Hardy, 32, is the creator of "Men on a Mission," a calendar series that sends up the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with photographs of hunky former missionaries in poses, characters and settings familiar to the faithful.

Hardy's first calendar was applauded by liberal-minded churchgoers when it was released in 2007. But as time passed, others complained that the calendar was damaging the image of the faith.

Hardy was excommunicated from the church, then barred from receiving his degree from Brigham Young University.

He is fighting back with attorneys and his own Web site (slogan: "Open Shirts, Open Minds"). He plans to release his third calendar online this month, much earlier than usual, to help pay his legal bills.